Georgia Trout Stocking Report 2026

Every sentence here comes from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division (GA DNR), and each section names its sources. Updated .

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division (GA DNR, WRD) stocks rainbow, brown and brook trout in about 160 streams, and in rivers and small lakes, from March through October, and stocks five Delayed Harvest streams monthly through the winter. Its Weekly Stocking Report lists the waters stocked in the latest week. Fishing for trout takes a trout license on top of the fishing license from age 16.

From Georgia WRD: Trout Fishing, Georgia WRD: 2026 Trout Stocking Information (PDF), Georgia WRD: Stream Into Action: Delayed Harvest Streams Open Nov. 1 (22 October 2025) and Georgia WRD: Weekly Trout Stocking Report (PDF).

The GA DNR trout stocking report

The waters WRD stocked in the latest week, by date, county and waterbody. It is one PDF, replaced each week at the same address. If it shows an old week, WRD says to clear your browser cache and history and open it again. On the trout page, the interactive map marks streams stocked in the last week in bright yellow and those stocked 8 to 14 days ago in a sandy color.

Open the Weekly Stocking Report
  • 2026 Trout Stocking Frequencies: Every water WRD stocks in 2026, with its county, grouped by how often it is stocked, from weekly to once a year. It says how often, not on which days. Asterisks mark waters that differ from their group, most often by stopping or slowing after July 4.

From Georgia WRD: Weekly Trout Stocking Report (PDF), Georgia WRD: Trout Fishing and Georgia WRD: 2026 Trout Stocking Information (PDF).

When Georgia stocks trout

Streams, rivers and small lakes

Stocking runs from March through October. How often a water is stocked depends on how much water there is, how hard it is fished, and how warm it gets in summer, and streams on public land are generally stocked more often and with more trout. The busiest waters, among them the Blue Ridge and Lanier tailwaters, the Tallulah River and Cooper Creek, are stocked weekly from April through July, twice before Labor Day and once in the fall. Others are stocked twice a month from April to Labor Day, monthly from March to August, or a few times a year. The trout are catchable rainbows and browns of 9 to 11 inches, grown from eggs or four-inch fish at three state hatcheries and one federal one.

Delayed Harvest streams

Five Delayed Harvest streams are catch and release from November 1 to May 14, on single-hook artificial lures, and are stocked monthly through that season: the Chattahoochee from Sope Creek to US 41 in Atlanta, the Toccoa above Lake Blue Ridge, Amicalola Creek on Dawson Forest WMA, Smith Creek below Unicoi Lake, and the Chattooga from GA 28 up to Reed Creek. In 2025 the season opened on Saturday, November 1, with stockings timed for opening weekend.

From Georgia WRD: 2026 Trout Stocking Information (PDF), Georgia WRD: Trout Fishing and Georgia WRD: Stream Into Action: Delayed Harvest Streams Open Nov. 1 (22 October 2025).

Rules on stocked water

  • Anglers 16 and older need a fishing license and a trout license. A resident pays $15 a year for the fishing license and $10 for the trout license; a nonresident pays $50 and $25. A resident Sportsman's License includes trout.
  • You may keep 8 trout a day, any mix of species, with no size limit except on two streams: 16 inches on Noontootla Creek and its tributaries on the Blue Ridge WMA, and 18 inches for brook trout and 22 for rainbows and browns on Waters Creek above Dicks Creek.
  • On a Delayed Harvest stream from November 1 through May 14, every trout goes back at once, only single-hook artificial lures are allowed, and you may not have a trout with you while fishing.
  • Artificial lures only, all year: the Chattahoochee from GA 20 down to Medlock Bridge, Noontootla Creek and its tributaries on the Blue Ridge WMA, and set stretches of the Coleman River, Jones, Mountaintown, Stanley and Hoods creeks and Walnut Fork. The Conasauga above the Tennessee line is artificial only from November 1 until the last Saturday in March.
  • Dukes Creek on the Smithgall Woods-Dukes Creek Conservation Area is catch and release on artificial lures with barbless hooks, fished by permit on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
  • Below the Lake Burton Hatchery intake, Moccasin Creek is open only to anglers under 12 and holders of honorary licenses.
  • Trout waters are open around the clock except Smith Creek on Unicoi State Park, the Chattahoochee below Lake Lanier and the Conasauga watershed above the Tennessee line, where fishing runs from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset.

From Georgia WRD: Trout Fishing, Georgia WRD: What License Do I Need?, Georgia WRD: License Prices (PDF, May 2025) and Rules of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Subject 391-4-3: Fishing Regulations.

How to hear about a stocking

  • The Weekly Stocking Report on the trout page names the waters stocked in the latest week.
  • The trout page also offers an email sign-up for trout stocking updates.
  • WRD announces the Delayed Harvest season in a news release; in 2025 it came on October 22, ten days before the opener.

From Georgia WRD: Trout Fishing, Georgia WRD: Weekly Trout Stocking Report (PDF) and Georgia WRD: Stream Into Action: Delayed Harvest Streams Open Nov. 1 (22 October 2025).

Worth knowing before you go looking

  • Many trout streams run through private land. Knowing where the property line is falls to you, and you need the landowner's permission before entering or fishing there.

From Georgia WRD: Trout Fishing.

Which day to fish it

The schedule says where the fish went in. Which day to go is a different question: the forecast scores each day of the week for trout at the water you pick, from its water temperature, the wind and the weather.

See the week for rainbow trout

Species guides: Rainbow Trout · Brown Trout · Brook Trout

Sources

Every sentence above was read on one of these pages, and a check re-reads each quoted line against the page it came from.

Spotted something out of date or plain wrong here? Tell us and we will check it.